I would like to ask what exactly is the symbol of Tariq's headache at the start of Chapter 48 of A Thousand Splendid Suns?Surely there is some meaning behind it for Hosseini to start the chapter...

I would like to ask what exactly is the symbol of Tariq's headache at the start of Chapter 48 of A Thousand Splendid Suns?

Surely there is some meaning behind it for Hosseini to start the chapter with headaches.

I have a hunch that the headaches is the tragedy that happened to Tariq and to everyone close to him or Tariq's regrets.The headaches started before he entered the prison. He might have already heard of what happened to his hometown when he left and might have regretted leaving Laila. He might have thought that he's the cause of Laila's sufferings and regretted it.

However, if that's the case, then why is he still having headaches even when he now knows that Laila's safe in his arms?

In the book A Thousand Splendid Suns is another of the author's successful attempts to demonstrate how the wars in Afghanistan had affected the people's lives. Tariq and his family represent the refugees who had to leave their lives behind only to go for help and finding poverty and starvation, poor living conditions and lack of medical care while disease is spreading around them.

Tariq begins to get headaches in response to all of the stress in his life. However, like Laila, he has things from his past that haunt him. Tariq's stresses are internalized and manifest themselves in the form of headaches while Laila's comes in her dreams.

Thank you for answering the question although it's a year old already. I still appreciated it.

I had a book report on this chapter last year. Thankfully, I was actually praised by my literature professor.

We also made a comparative essay about it. I used the two mothers, Nana and Fariba and compared them to the women of the present Afghanistan.

I mentioned that both of these women contradict the feminism imposed by Mariam and Laila.

Here's an excerpt (sorry for the wrong grammar here and there):

A Thousand Splendid Suns narrates the reign of patriarchy and the rise of feminism in 20th-century Afghanistan through two female characters, Mariam and Laila. They recount the life Afghan women have to endure; they both have become the wives of the same cruel man, have been shunned by Afghan society, have tried to go against the Taliban, and have won in one way or another. Both of them have showed readers that feminism in Afghanistan has hope.

However, by saying that the book is about the rise of feminism in Afghanistan because of these two women is an incomplete look at the book. Mariam and Laila are not the only female characters in the story. A Thousand Splendid Suns also shows another world of feminism in Afghanistan. It also narrates the fall of feminism through two other female characters, Nana and Fariba, the mothers of Mariam and Laila.

....

On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that this really is a hopeless case for Afghan women. Remember, Nana and Fariba die in the book. Maybe along with their deaths is the false feminism present in Afghanistan.